Millinery – silver & pink Bergère (aka Dinner-plate hat)

Silver and pink Bergère hat

This project is a LONG time coming. I started this post back in 2011, and called it a “dinner-plate” hat, however now in 2022… I know it’s called a Bergère instead.

I started this project and in mid-November 2011, kind of abandoned it. I’m not entirely sure why – likely something else shiny caught my attention, and I lost interest in a historically-inspired hat where I didn’t have any other historical costume elements to wear it with…

In my late 2021 UFO (UnFinished prOjects) review, I pulled out this hat as a work-in-progress, and decided to finish it off.

German headwear – Wulsthaube – Examples & planning

An impromptu white linen Wulsthaube just put together to photograph the Dockenbaret

After going through my fabric stash and doing my capsule wardrobe record, I came up with not one, but four different collections of fabrics I really wanted to use for German Renaissance clothing.

One is for a Cranach gown, but the other three are for the Landsknecht style of costume which I really haven’t researched much at this point. I figured however that I’d start with appropriate headwear, and kind of go from there. I do love headwear… and I always seem to start with the headwear before I make the gown!

Partially this is also because of the July 2020 Historical Sew Monthly entry from Johanna – a Wulsthaube which made me want to make one too!

16th Century German – Dockenbaret – HSM June 2021

My second attempt at a black wool Dockenbaret using a different pattern

As I was doing my analysis of my German wardrobe in my German Capsule Collection post, I recognized that one of the things I wanted to add to the wardrobe was a hat in a more historically-informed colour.

I have three hats for this period already – a blue-on-blue Tellerbarret, a teal tweed Dockenbaret with ostrich feathers, and a black wool Dockenbaret which I shared for my January Historical Sew Fortnightly entry.

While making that one, I found a different pattern approach I wanted to try… hence.. yet another hat!

Teal Propoloma – The fan-shaped hat

New blog post! I made a heavily embellished teal and silver hat for my Byzantine costume wardrobe

Back in 2016 I made a Byzantine costume for an event/competition (where I won first place in the advanced category!) and part of that was a gorgeous, fun, huge fan-shaped hat called the Propoloma. My pattern was speculative, and I could see two different ways to accomplish the hat – but liked the idea of a very packable hat, especially considering how often SCA events are well out of town and require costumes that will pack up into a suitcase or duffle bag easily.

The first hat was golden, which worked well with that first costume I made (blue, with red and gold accessories) and it also worked really well with the second Byzantine costume I made too (green with gold)…

…. but then I was gifted this amazing teal top embellished with silver beads, sequins, and French wire… and the ONLY thing I could see in my mind’s eye for this was elements for another Byzantine accessory.

A pointy hat for my Viking wardrobe

Pointed “santa” hat

Even though the costumers who aim for authenticity seem to loathe the pointy, toque-like, ‘santa’ hat… I wanted to make one nonetheless.